Bloody, tumultuous Paris
of the French Revolution is a long way from the tranquility of
County Roscommon. Yet as the tumbrels carried their victims to
the guillotine during the Reign of Terror in 1792-1793, two of
our cousins, Mary MacDermotRoe and Colonel Thomas MacDermot Roe
waited anxiously in French jails awaiting news. Would they be
returned to freedom or were they to join the long line of condemned
prisoners?

Mary MacDermot Roe, born
1758/9 was probably the youngest of the four children of Charles
MacDermotRoe of Alderford, Kilronan Parish, County Roscommon
and his wife Eleanor O'Conor, sister of the Irish historian and
Catholic rights leader Charles O'Conor of Belanagar.(1)
Fortunately, Mary gave an interview recorded in the Mundy-O'Reilly
manuscript history of the life of Turlough O'Carolan. So we are
able to piece together some important details of her life.(2)

Charles MacDermotRoe,
a Catholic, had been given a long term lease of Alderford in
1752 by his mother Mary Fitzgerald, widow of Henry Baccach MacDermot
Roe and the patroness of Turlough O'Carolan, shortly before her
death. However, after Charles' premature death in 1759, Charles'
older brother John, a lawyer who had become a Protestant, dispossessed
widow Eleanor and her children of Alderford. The court records
are not available but it would appear that John's case was based
on the English imposed penal laws which greatly restricted the
property rights of Catholics.

As the result, Mary, an
infant, and the rest of her family were turned out of Alderford
and lived, according to Mary, in "reduced circumstances"
at various homes in the area. When she was about 18, Mary traveled
to London. Her brother Denis had gone to England to apprentice
as an apothecary and she apparently stayed with him.

While in England she met
and married William Taylor, a Protestant merchant, about 1778.
She subsequently became a Protestant herself. This was a matter
of great chagrin to her uncle Charles O'Conor, the historian,
who alludes to the event in his correspondence. In a letter dated
February 6, 1789, O'Conor wrote:

"I was not much surprised at the apostasy of my sister's
daughter (Mary, daughter of Ellen). I renounce her, for where
there is no kindred of principle or morals a kindred by blood
is, of course, dissolved."(3)

In the Mundy-O'Reilly manuscript,
Mary states that she and her husband William went to Paris in
July of 1791. It would appear likely that William was there for
business reasons. There were a great many English merchants in
Paris at the time.

Why would Mary and her
husband have gone there during such a dangerous time? While the
French Revolution had begun two years earlier, it appeared to
many that it was essentially over by the summer of 1791. It seemed
that the King Louis XVI had, albeit reluctantly, accepted the
reality of a constitutional monarchy and that France could look
forward to stability and prosperity.

However, in the summer of 1792,
the Austrians and Prussians attacked France with the apparent
complicity of Louis XVI. The Revolution then turned into a radical
phase. On August 10, 1792, a mob attacked the Tuileries Palace
where King Louis was residing, killing his Swiss guards and threatening
the royal family. In September, 1792, a mob, incited by Marat,
a writer and leader of the Paris Commune, brutally massacred
1,500 people, mainly clergy, and looted the victims' possessions.

Soon thereafter, King
Louis was arrested and put on trial for treason. After the execution
of the King on January 21, 1793, the radicals assumed complete
control of the government under the Committee of Public Safety.
They appointed a new state prosecutor, Fouquier-Tinville, to
arrest and convict all real or supposed enemies of the revolution.
So began the infamous Reign of Terror.

The arrests were authorized
under a "Law of Suspects" passed by the Convention
September 1793. The Law gave the government broad authority to
arrest anyone suspected of disloyalty. Additionally, citizens
could be arrested merely for failing to possess a certificate
of loyalty from a local revolutionary official. Under the "Law
of Suspects", all English and other persons of foreign origin
were considered suspects and to be arrested.(4)
So while aristocrats and others with ties to the Old Regime were
apprehended, foreigners were, also, targeted on the ground that
they might be intriguing with foreign governments to overthrow
the Revolution.

Mary states in her interview
that she and William were arrested during the Reign of Terror.
While were don't know the exact date of her arrest, it would
have been the latter part of 1793 or early 1794. Although Mary
was Irish, Ireland was, at that time part of the United Kingdom.
As British subjects she and her husband would have been caught
in the round up of foreigners.(5)

What was her experience
like in prison during the Reign of Terror? Prison conditions
may not have been as harsh as those depicted in Hollywood movies.
French historian Jean Robiquet states:

" considered individually and forgetting for the
moment the tumbrels of Fouquier-Tinville, there was nothing particularly
hard in the life prisoners led. In fact, the regime applied to
detainees was often almost liberal."(6)

According to Robiquet,
the prisoners were not held in old prisons of the former regime,
but rather in convents closed by the Revolution and turned into
detainment centers. The prisoners at the convents were generally
not restricted to a room but were allowed to roam throughout
the convent and socialize with other prisoners.

The convent turned prison
at Saint Lazare is given as an example of conditions William
and Mary may have experienced,

"As Saint-Lazare was lacking in beds, its involuntary
pensioners were allowed to bring their own. Many them took advantage
of this rule to have complete sets of furniture brought The
rooms were generally occupied by two or three persons, but they
were large,airy and commanded a view which stretched as far as
the slopes of Mont-Valerien. No bars on the windows, no bolts
outside the doors, and especially during the first months, no
fixed curfew

"Letters were delivered unopened and were sent in the
same way. It was also permissible for detainees to be sent parcels.
(Prisoners) could have their purchases delivered from outside
and then cook their meals on the small portable stoves which
were installed in the corridors."

In addition to being allowed
to move freely about the Saint-Lazare convent to visit friends,
prisoners could participate in games organized in the convent's
yards. Some prisoners occupied their time with all kinds of work,
played music, painted and sketched. According to Robiquet, numerous
accounts of life in Revolutionary era prisons suggest that conditions
at other convent/prisons were similar to Saint-Lazare.(7)

On the other hand, there
was the daily anxiety that one might be called before the Prosecutor
for trial. These affairs were speedy. A person could be tried,
sentenced and executed in one day.

As Mary and her husband William
waited anxiously in prison to learn their fate, the Reign of
Terror took its bloody course. From June, 1793 to 27 July 1794,
300,000 suspects were arrested. 17,000 were tried, sentenced
and executed and many others either died in prison or were killed
without trial.

Mary and her husband were
saved when Robespierre the leader of the government during the
Reign of Terror was, himself, executed on July 27,1794 and the
Reign of Terror ended. The people had had enough of the chaos
and killing. However, Mary and William must have suffered the
worst fear during the final days of their imprisonment. The pace
of executions reached its peak just before Robespierre's downfall.
Between 10 June 1794 and 27 July 1794, 1,366 were executed.

Surprisingly, William
and Mary stayed in Paris after their release from prison. Perhaps
William returned to his business and resumed a fairly normal
life. Unfortunately, William died just two years later in 1796
leaving Mary a widow.

Mary soon returned to
Ireland where she lived in County Roscommon with her mother for
a time. She later remarried William Coulter, an old acquaintance
of the family. William, an engineer, was originally from County
Down but lived with Mary's family around 1780.(8)
He may have come to Kilronan to work on the new coal mining industry
in the Arigna Mountains. Mary and William Coulter were living
in Arigna at the time of his death in 1829.

In the Mundy-O'Reilly
manuscript, Mary recalls that she and her mother Eleanor used
to walk together to the burial place of O'Carolan in the MacDermotRoe
family chapel at Kilronan Abbey near Alderford. There, her mother
would place a ribbon in the skull of her old friend Turlough
who died in 1738. Eleanor who lived to be, at least, 100, died
about 1808.

Mary lived to the age
of 76 dying in 1835. She apparently remained in KIlronan after
the death of her husband William Coulter. She was buried in Kilronan
Abbey. However, her gravestone no longer survives.

While Mary and her husband
survived their ordeal in the Reign of Terror, her cousin Colonel
Thomas MacDermot Roe was not so fortunate. He was among the many
victims of the Terror, dying in Temple Prison in Paris in 1793.

Thomas was a representative
of an important branch of the MacDermots Roe that flourished
in the 18th century in an area known as Emla not far from Roscommon
Town.(9) This area is located between
Tulsk and Roscommon Town, about 25 miles south of the MacDermot
Roe base of Kilronan in the northeast corner of County Roscommon.
Covering several different civil parishes including Baslick,
Oran and Kilbride, it is called Emla, meaning marsh, because
of the many townlands including the word Emla in their names.

In MacDermot of Moylurg,
Sir Dermot MacDermot suggests that the Emla MacDermots Roe descends
from a MacDermot branch that migrated to County Louth around
1600 upon the marriage of Edmond McDermott to Margaret daughter
of Patrick Bellew of Kilcurley, Louth. The Bellews were large
landowners and their business included flour mills.

Sir Dermot notes that members
of the Louth branch were well established in business in Dublin
by 1700.(10) The Dermotts of Usher and
Arran Quay Dublin were prominent merchants, owning ships and
carrying on an extensive trade in provisions. Their Dublin business
may have been operating in the 17th century with Edmond's son
Thomas Dermott and was certainly well established by the time
of Thomas' son Christopher, d. 1727 of Usher Quay. It was continued
by Christopher's sons Thomas of Francis Street, fl. 1764,75,
, and Anthony 1700-1784 of Usher's Quay. Anthony's sons, Anthony,
Owen and Francis continued the business at 19 Usher's Island,
15 Usher's Quay and 30 Arran Quay, respectively, near the end
of the 18th century. Anthony and his sons were members of the
Catholic Committee of which their friend Charles O'Conor, the
historian, was a leader.(11)

However, it may be that
they were in business in Dublin much earlier - long before the
Bellew marriage. An Edmond Dermott was Master of the Merchant
Taylor's Guild in Dublin 1575-1576. Thomas Dermott, the son of
the Edmond who married Margaret Bellew, married Margery Bath.
Not only were the Baths prominent in Dublin business but Patrick
Bath was Master of the same Merchah Taylors Guild in 1631-1632.
Perhaps the Edmond of the Merchants Guild is the Edmond who married
Margaret Bellew or his father.

Sir Dermot theorizes that
several brothers of the Louth/Dublin branch settled in the Emla
area of County Roscommon around 1700. They include Edmund whose
daughter Catherine married Owen O'Conor of Corrusduna, Bryan
of Castletehen, d. 1727 and Michael of Castlemehen, d. 1735.
From the early 1700's, the MacDermots Roe of Emla flourished.
Their nephew, Thomas MacDermot Roe of Castlemehen, d. November,
1765, was a successful Dublin merchant and large landowner in
the area. It appears that he was the grandfather of Colonel Thomas,
perhaps through a son Edmond.

With respect to the Louth connection,
Sir Dermot suggests that Edmond of Emla, the father of Catherine,
was the son of Clement McDermott, born circa 1600-40, fl 1664
per Hearth Money Roll who residences included Kilcurley and later
Thomastown in County Louth.(12) Clement
was married twice and had an enormous number of children. Many
of his children went to France after the Treaty of Limerick of
1691 ending the war between William of Orange and King James
II.

The Louth McDemotts generally
did not use the appellation Roe and while in business in Dublin
went by Dermott. However, there is an entry in Burke's Landed
Gentry where Clement's name is given as MacDermot Roe. Additionally,
there are numerous 18th century documents referring to the Emla
MacDermots with the appellation Roe. Thus, if the McDermotts
of Emla descend from the Louth McDermotts, the Louth McDermotts
would have been MacDermots Roe as stated in Burke's.

It is not clear what brought
the MacDermots to Emla around 1700. It may have been a marriage
to a local family such as Kelly or O'Conor. An interesting possibility
is they came to Emla via France.

Among the many sons of Clement
MacDermot Roe who went to foreign military service after the
Treaty of Limerick was Bryan. He served the King of France probably
in the Irish Brigade until an army reform after the Peace of
Ryswick reduced the forces. After leaving the army, Bryan became
a merchant in Rouen, France. The firm of Dermott and Paine which
existed at Rue d la Savonniere, Rouen in 1702 may have been his.(13)

It is known that the Anthony
Dermott of Usher's Quay, Dublin carried on a wine trade with
cousins in Rouen later in the 18th century. So it seems likely
that Bryan of Rouen was, also, trading with Anthony's father
Christopher of Usher's Quay, d. 1727, son of Thomas who was the
older brother of Clement. Keeping the export/import business
in the family would have been both common and prudent.

If Bryan MacDermot Roe, d. 1727,
of Castletehen was one of the sons of Clement, as indicated by
Sir Dermot, he would be the Byran of Rouen. As time passed from
the Treaty of Limerick, ex-patriates like Bryan were able to
acquire seats in or near the old family territory with profits
from foreign trade.

Additionally, there was a Michael
McDermott, merchant of Rouen who flourished there in August 11,
1724.(14) If Bryan of Rouen was the Bryan
MacDermot Roe of Castletehen, is it not possible, even likely,
that Michael of Rouen is, also, Michael MacDermot Roe of Castlemehen,
d. 1735?

The Dublin/Louth/ Emla
MacDermots Roe, also, produced the most important freemason of
the 18th century. This was Lawrence Dermott, 1720-1791, founder
and long serving Grand Secretary of the Antient's Grand Lodge
of England. In the late 18th century, the Antients eclipsed the
Grand Lodge of England and had a close ties with the Grand Lodges
of Ireland and Scotland. The son of Thomas of Francis Street,
Lawrence was active in freemasonry in Sligo city and Dublin before
settling in London where was a painter. His family had a country
residence at Strokestown, County Roscommon.(15)

Lawrence was probably
not the only freemason in this branch. Christopher McDermott
of 2 Hoey's, Court, Dublin was a member of Lodge,Warrant Number
353 which grew to 224 members. Meetings of Lodge 355 in Sligo
City were held at the house of Stephen McDermott per resolution
of July 6, 1778.(16) The Dublin/Louth
branch seems to have had a business office in Sligo at this time.
This Stephen may be the younger brother of Anthony of Usher's
Quay. In 1760, Mi.(Michael) McDermott, merchant, possibly a descendent
of Michael of Castlemehen, d. 1735, was a member of a Lodge 340
in Strokestown.(17)

Freemasonry, also, flourished
in France in the years before the French Revolution. French freemasonry
of this time had a strong tie to the Jacobite movement. After
his defeat by William of Orange, King James II spent many years
in residence at a palace given to him by the Louis XIV, the French
King, where his court included Irish Jacobites. The progressive
ideals of Freemasory attracted a strong following among French
intellectuals and French freemason lodges of 18th century are
thought to have been incubators of political thought that led
to the revolution.

It is not known if Colonel Thomas
joined a French lodge but it would not be at all surprising.
Other possible freemasons in France include his cousins Bryan
and Michael, merchants of Rouen. As of 1762, Rouen had three
freemason lodges with eighty in Paris.(18)
In 1785, Benjamin Franklin was inducted as a member of one of
Rouen lodges, La Loge des Bons Amis. (19)

That the MacDermots Roe
of Emla became in their own right an important branch of the
family is indicated by the wealth of Thomas MacDermot Roe of
Castlemehen. His obituary states, for example, that he maintained
a pack of fox hounds for over 50 years. Deed and lease records,
also, show him with numerous holdings in the Emla area through
a large part of the 18th century.

Additionally, the family's
prominence is indicated by the fact that Bernard and Edmond MacDermot
Roe of Emla were among the leading Catholics in the area whose
opinion was solicited in a 1748 "postulation" regarding
the selection of the next Bishop of Elphin. Also, Michael MacDermot
Roe was the parish priest for Oran in 1756 when the Catholic
Church was still under heavy pressure from the English.

Colonel Thomas MacDermot
Roe was born about 1751. From a well to do family, he devoted
himself to the military. By 1785, he was a Colonel in the Athleague
Rangers.(20) Sometime after January 1786,
Colonel Thomas went to France as a Lieutenant Colonel in Dillon's
Regiment. He was at one point at Harfleu, in the departement
of Seine Inferiure (now Seine Maritime) and was a member of the
French Jockey Club.(21)

Dillon's Regiment (France)
was formed in the aftermath of the victory of William of Orange
over King James II at the end of the 17th century. After the
Treaty of Limerick, many Irishmen who supported King James left
Ireland to join newly formed Irish regiments in Catholic countries
such as France. Dillon's Regiment (France) was among three Irish
regiments comprising France's Irish Brigade.(22)

During the course of the18th
century, sons of Irish gentry continued to go abroad to join
foreign Irish regiments. This was the result, not only, of an
antagonism to British colonialism in Ireland, but also, to a
lack of opportunity at home. Under the Penal Laws, Irish Catholics
suffered severe restrictions on their property and political
rights and they were barred from many occupations including the
law. Furthermore, they were not permitted to hold commissions
in the British army.

During almost its entire
history, Dillon's Regiment (France) as part of the Irish Brigade
was kept distinct form native French regiments. However, in 1791,
Dillon's Regiment (France) was incorporated into the French Army
on an equal footing with native French regiments and redesignated
the 87th Regiment de Ligne. After its incorporation into the
French Army, many officers with royalist sympathies left the
regiment and France.

Colonel Thomas MacDermot
Roe evidently stayed in France following the beginning of the
Revolution. Like many, he may have hoped that 1791 represented
the culmination of the Revolution and that life would continue
as before.

However, the execution
of King Louis and the radicalization of the Revolution changed
everything. As a royalist officer and a foreigner, Colonel Thomas
was a prime target of the Reign of Terror. He was probably caught
up in the first wave of arrests.

It would appear that Colonel
Thomas' prison conditions at the Temple Prison were much more
difficult than those experienced by Mary MacDermot Roe. As evidenced
by his correspondence from prison, he anticipated that he might
not survive his ordeal. He, in fact, died while imprisoned. One
assumes that his death was from disease brought on by the conditions
of his confinement. The exact date of his death is not known,
but it appears to have occurred in September, 1793.

Fortunately, Colonel Thomas'
prison correspondence survived and is kept at the French archives
with a microfilm copy at the National Library of Ireland in Dublin.
In a June 3, 1793 letter to his brother Owen, Thomas charged
Owen, as his heir, to take care of citoyenne Noel who was kind
to him while he was in prison.(21)

In his letter to Owen,
Thomas only refers to his mother, Owen's wife, Honor Kelly, and
to Honor's father William Kelly of Springfield. Thus, he does
not appear to have had a wife or children.

Colonel Thomas MacDermot
Roe was not the only Irish officer in French service to fall
victim to the Revolution. Colonel Theobald Dillon, the commander
of Dillon's Regiment, was killed by his own troops on April 29,
1792 as a royalist sympathizer. His cousin General Arthur Dillon,
who preceded Theobald as commander of Dillon's regiment before
his promotion, was arrested the following year and executed on
the guillotine on April 14, 1794.

While stationed in Santo
Domingo, West Indies in 1793, the former Dillon's Regiment, now
the 87th de Ligne, surrendered to the British Army. About 180
soldiers in the regiment transferred to the British Army and
their new British unit reverted to the old designation as Dillon's
Regiment. In 1796, this Dillon's Regiment was disbanded in Santo
Domingo. Its personnel were incorporated into two new British
regiments, Henry Dillon's Regiment and the Comte de Walsh's Regiment.
They became the British Irish Brigade organized in Ireland in
1794.

So Dillon's Regiment (France),
the ex-patriate unit officered by Irish ex-patriates like Thomas
MacDermot Roe, was re-invented by the British as a unit of the
British army. The new Dillion's Regiment (British) was officered
by Irish Catholics. The British dropped the bar to Catholics
as officers in the British Army out of fear that the ideals of
human rights represented by the French Revolution might find
favor among the oppressed Irish Catholics.

The MacDermots, including
the MacDermots Roe, continued to be represented in the new Dillion's
Regiment (British). Among the MacDermots serving in the regiment
were Lieutenant Colonel Thomas MacDermot, Ensign Hugh MacDermot,
son of Myles of Coolavin, Ensign John MacDermot and Ensign Patrick
MacDermot Roe, this author's ancestor who was appointed Ensign
in May 15, 1797. This is an extraordinary representation by the
MacDermots in what was a much sought after regiment.

The amazing presence of
not one, but two, MacDermots Roe in Paris during the French Revolution
reveals much about their times and about the personal relationship
that we all have to history in the broadest sense. Let's consider
both aspects of their stories.

We tend to think of travel
and mobility as a phenomena of modern times. Yet the lives of
these two 18th century members of our family tell a quite different
story. Mary though born and raised in rural Roscommon lived in
both London and Paris. Her travels reflected the tremendous boom
in trade which occurred in Ireland and elsewhere during the last
quarter of the 18th century. This economic expansion at the dawn
of the industrial age required a high degree of mobility especially
in the merchant class.

Likewise, Colonel Thomas
MacDermot Roe's presence in Paris reflects the 18th century diaspora
of important Irish families like the MacDermots for military
service and business. During this period, a great party was held
at the house of Clement MacDermot Roe in Thomastown, County Louth
where twenty four MacDermots, all officers in foreign military
service, "danced in the parlor to a patriotic air struck
up by the family harper."(24)

Examples of the commercial
diaspora are Bryan MacDermot Roe and Michael McDermott, merchants,
who operated out of the port of Rouen, France in the early 1700's.
As discussed they were part of an international family owned
trading business. This business may have extended to the United
States in the late 1700's. An S.C. Dermott built a flour mill
on the Hudson River at River Road and Mill Street (later 4th
Street) in West Troy aka Watervliet, NY in 1795. He may be Stephen
Christopher of the Dublin/Louth MacDermots Roe.

Finally, the experiences
of Mary MacDermot Roe and Colonel Thomas MacDermot Roe during
the French Revolution remind us that family history is simply
"History" written close up. Their lives and our lives
are an integral part of the larger historical events around us.
War, depression, technological innovation and political upheaval
affect every one us, shaping our lives and those of our descendants.

__________________________________________

(1) MacDermot Roe Pedigree. National Library
of Ireland. GOMs 169, pages 393-404. Denis, the youngest son
of Charles MacDermot Roe and Eleanor O'Conor, does not appear
on the pedigree.

(2) Mundy-O'Reilly Manuscript on the Life
of O'Carolan. National Library of Ireland. Microfilm Positive
4132.

(5) An important source for the life in Paris
during the Revolution is Helen Maria Williams (1761?-1827), English
poet and novelist who wrote and eye-witness account of the French
Revolution. An English liberal and religious dissenter sympathetic
to the Revolution, Helen moved to Paris in 1790 to observe it
close-up. Like the Taylors, Helen was imprisoned during the Terror
and later released. See "An Eye-Witness Account of the French
Revolution" published in Volume 19 of the Age of Romanticism,
Jack Fructman, Jr, editor, Peter Lang Publisher 1997, ISBN 0820431206
and Helen Williams and the French Revolution, Jane Shuter,
Editor, 1996, ISBN 0811482871.

(6) Daily Life in the French Revolution,
Jean Robiquet, MacMillan Co., NY, 1965, translated by James Kirup
at page 148-151.

(8) House of Lords. Roscommon Peerage Case.
Peerage Claims, Volume II. British House of Lords Records Office.,
see testimony of William Coultard dated February 15, 1798 at
page 21, ordered to be printed July 17, 1823.

(9) I consistently use the appellation Roe
in referring to MacDermot Roe descendants in this article. However,
records are extremely inconsistent in including the Roe especially
for descendants living outside northern Roscommon. For example,
Thomas MacDermot Roe of Castlemehen, discussed infra,
is referred to with the Roe in many leases but the Roe is omitted
from his listing in the Elphin Census of 1749. All available
records of his grandson, Colonel Thomas, omit the Roe.

(13) Old Irish Links with France, Richard
Hayes, 1949, quoted in MacDermot of Moylurg, pages 314,316.
Below is additional information provided by Philippe de Rostolan
a descendant of Clement MacDermot of Kilcurley and later Thomastown,
County Louth.

(20) An entry in Walker's Hibernian Magazine,
1771-1812 shows that he was "of Emla" in January, 1786
when his sister married Sterling St. Clair of Finglas, County
Dublin.

(21) We are fortunate that many of the details
of Colonel Thomas MacDermot Roe's career are set forth in an
article in the Irish Sword, Vol. XII, No. 46. They are summarized
by Dermot MacDermot in MacDermot of Moylurg at page 328-340.

(22) History of the Irish Brigades in the
Service of France, O'Callaghan, John Cornelius, London, 1886,
pages 26-29, 46-53.

(23) Thomas' brother Owen, a lawyer at 26
Queen Street, Dublin, was secretary of the Dublin Society of
United Irishmen in 1793. MacDermot of Moylurg, supra at
page 328